Tales of the Jinchuuriki
by Shining Pheonix
Summary: Gamabunta and the Sandaime made a promise to the Yondaime, Jiraiya made a promise to Gamabunta. How do these promises affect Naruto? Written for the 'Demons in our Midst' authors challenge. An FFVIINaruto crossover
1. Prologue Four Fallen Warriors

**A/N: This is written for the 'Demons in our Midst' author challenge hosted by Manatheron. **

**Tales of the Jinchuuriki**

**Prologue: Four Warriors Fallen**

"Are you absolutely sure about this?"

"As sure as I can be. The hardest part is not being able to see what happens after this."

"I suppose that you will just have to leave that to me. I'll take care of him, I promise."

"I know that, old friend. Don't feel bad, there's a difference between heroism and stupidity. I've got the easy part of this, the physical part, the two of you have the hard part, going on."

"This I know. Do you have anything that you want done, before and after you're gone?"

"Yes, don't let him go through life alone."

With those final words, Kazama Arashi, Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure, left his office for the last time, with Sarutobi and a small infant with blond hair remaining within. _The kid is going to go through hell, but if he can get out on the other side he's going to be one of the greatest of all time._

Arashi went through a few seals before setting his hands on the ground. Gamabunta, the boss of the toad demon clan, appeared in front of him.

"You're all set, gaki?" the toad asked, puffing on his pipe.

"I am. You'll take care of him, won't you?" Arashi asked as he jumped onto the amphibian's head.

"Hai, I've wanted to revive that old custom anyway. You do know what we'll consider him after you go through with this?" the toad asked as he leapt toward the battlefield.

"I know, that's why I asked you. This way, he'll have a way out if this all goes wrong."

The area immediately around Kyuubi was horrible. Bodies of fallen Shinobi lay in positions that one couldn't obtain naturally, some were burnt so horribly that they were unrecognizable, while still others, well, there wasn't much left of the rest of the fallen.

The living, on the other hand, were doing their best to stop a beast that couldn't be brought low by mortal weapons.

"The Yondaime is here, we can beat this thing!" a Shinobi shouted upon seeing their beloved leader. Arashi grinned darkly, even the greatest of mortal heroes didn't have a prayer against this monster. At least, not a prayer of beating it and living…

"Gama, grab him!" Arashi commanded, beginning to form seals for what someone had termed 'the ultimate suicide technique.' The toad grabbed the legs of the monstrous fox, attempting to hold it in one position while Arashi finished his seals. Kyuubi thrashed around, attempting to get some distance between himself and the toad. Gamabunta held on as best he could, receiving a slash across an eye for his efforts, but he managed to keep hold of the fox just the same.

"Gaki, it's now or never!" the toad shouted, barely able to maintain his hold on the fox king.

Arashi's answer came in the form of an ethereal hand reaching out through his gut, snaring the soul of the fox demon.

"Kyuubi, you have gone too far! For your treason against both the Yokai council and against Konoha, you are hereby sentenced!" Using all of the strength he could muster, Arashi, with the assistance of the Shinigami, pulled Kyuubi's soul into the seal on the stomach of the child in the Hokage Office. The seal closed shut with a brilliant flash of light, preventing the fox from ever escaping.

Arashi could barely stand, his soul had been taken by the Shinigami as the price for using the Shiki Fuujin ritual. _Forgive me, I know that the life you will have to lead is a hard one, but don't give up!_

"Stay strong…Naruto!"

With those words, Kazama Arashi, the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure, passed from this world to the next.

--The Next Day—

"I'm not quite sure what you're asking of me. Are you saying that you want one of your children to be raised alongside of Naruto?" Sarutobi asked Gamabunta. Sarutobi, Gamabunta, and Enma the monkey king, were on top of the Hokage Tower, discussing the fate of Naruto.

"Exactly. It's an old custom with some demon clans to raise their heir with the heir of the human clan allied with them." The toad boss replied.

"It wouldn't be too odd, Sarutobi. There are clans in the village who do similar things with their animal partners." Enma replied.

Sarutobi nodded, puffing on his pipe. "Alright, I don't see why not. This might actually help the people accept him."

"Do you need Jiraiya to give you a hand?" the toad boss asked, also puffing on a pipe.

"If you could get him here, it would be appreciated. He might be able to help me out in just the right way." The Hokage replied.

"I'll get him here, and I'll make the arrangements for Naruto and Gamakichi." With that, Gamabunta vanished in a puff of smoke.

"It would seem that the little guy has a chance. Now, I just have to convince the council that he's not the fox." Sarutobi commented, tugging on his hat as he walked toward the door inside.

"I'm sure you'll be able to convince the council, it's the villagers are the ones that are going to take some convincing." Enma responded.

--The Council Chambers—

"Is there really any evidence that _proves_ he's human?" a council member asked, looking at the infant Naruto in Sarutobi's arms.

"There's plenty, the fact that he's not growing fox ears and tails is a big one, as well as the fact that he's not grown to monstrous size and started attacking everyone." Another retorted.

"What did the summon bosses say in this respect, Sandaime-sama?" the only female council member in the room asked, also looking at the infant who was peacefully sleeping.

"They never came right out and said it, but Gamabunta implied that he was, in fact, quite human. He also had an old human/demon relations custom that he wanted to revive." Sarutobi answered, moving the infant into a more comfortable position.

"That old custom? I haven't heard of anyone wanting to revive it since my father's time." The first councilman commented, looking insightful.

"Whether or not the toad clan wishes to revive a custom with this child is not our concern, what we do with this child is." The female council member said, giving a stern look at the first man to have spoken.

"What should we do with him, after all, the villagers are not exactly inviting him into their homes with open arms." The second councilman asked, folding steeping his hands and resting his chin on them.

"Jiraiya shall be returning within two days, I intend to let him raise the child. After all, I thought it appropriate that a child who will work closely with the toad demons should be raised by a toad summoner." Sarutobi responded.

"Who are the child's parents, do we know?" the woman asked.

Sarutobi sighed before answering. "I know who his parents are, but I was forced to promise not to tell anyone else until I told the child himself."

"This is unfortunate, but understandable. Very well, if there are no objections we shall go through with Sandaim-sama's plan to allow Jiraiya-dono to raise the child." The woman again spoke, closing the record book as she did so.

--Two days Later—

"So, this little guy is Naruto." Jiraiya commented as he picked the small child up. "He really does resemble Arashi, you know, except for the whiskers."

"Gamabunta has spoken with you of his plan?" Sarutobi asked, once more puffing on his trademark pipe.

"That he did. Are you sure it's such a good idea, after all the villagers seem to think that he's nothing more than Kyuubi in human form?" Jiraiya asked, ruffling the blond hair of the napping Naruto.

"I think it is a good idea, and I have another idea that will help Naruto come to grips with his situation and help this village accept him for who he is." Sarutobi replied, rings of smoke surrounding his head.

"Does this plan have anything to do with the attack made by the Seven-tails on Nibelheim a few weeks back?" Jiraiya asked.

"It does. Did you here how they finally defeated the dragon?"

"No, I only heard that Cloud and Tifa lost their lives fighting the beast."

Sarutobi again puffed his pipe. Strife Cloud and his wife, Tifa, had been two of the best ninja to ever come from Konoha's sister village, Nibelheim. The two had been the teammate with Arashi, and helped him develop the moves that had made him feared as 'Konoha's Yellow Flash'. The two had gotten married shortly before Arashi had been named as the Yondaime Hokage and moved back to their home village to start a family of their own, much like Arashi and his wife, Uchiha Keisha had. _Two good families lost to demon attacks, and two children of these heroes who will never know their parents. Damn it, karma, what the hell did they do to deserve this?_ "The situation there is very much similar to the one here, and I intend to bring the child Cloud used for the sealing here to Konoha. That child is already in the care of a legal guardian."

"That's good to know. So, I guess the rest is up to me and this little guy here, ne?" Jiraiya responded, winding the small music box beside the crib.

Sarutobi nodded slowly, walking out the door as the musical notes of the lullaby settled over the house.

--Later the same day—

Jiraiya stood on the roof of the small house that he now shared with Naruto, staring down the giant toad in front of him.

"Are you certain you want them to be raised together? It wouldn't hurt at all to let them both grow up a little bit before we introduce them to summoning and each other." Jiraiya challenged the toad boss.

"I'm certain. This way they'll grow up working together. Don't tell me that you're afraid of raising a toad and an infant?" Gamabunta challenged, puffing on his oversized pipe.

"Of course not, just let me meet the toad that I'm going to be keeping an eye on." Jiraiya responded, barely fazed at the toad boss's challenge.

With a chuckle, Gamabunta summoned a second toad, this one much, _much_ smaller than him. "This is Gamakichi, and I expect you to take care of both him and the gaki, do you understand me, Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya picked up the smaller toad, this one with a blue shirt, red body, and orange markings, and nodded toward Gamabunta.

"Don't worry so much, if anyone can do it, it's me." Jiraiya said, walking back into the house.

_This is going to be interesting. Arashi, I hope that the kid is a lot like you, because he's gonna need the resilience to handle what's in store for him._ Jiraiya thought as he walked over to the small crib, placing the small toad in with the infant.

Outside, Gamabunta was having similar thoughts. _Arashi, I promised you that I would take care of him, and I will make him the greatest that ever walked the face of the earth!_

**A/N: What do you guys think? This is just the beginning of an evil plot line that's been bouncing around inside my head for a while, and Manatheron-sama convinced my muse to force me to write it for the 'Demons in our Midst' authors challenge. Obviously, this is a Naruto/Final Fantasy VII crossover, but the only things from FFVII that will be appearing here is the locations, several of the main characters, and materia.**

**For my dedicated readers of The Chronicles of Naruto and Tsunade, do not despair, I am not abandoning it, but my updating speed on it will drop considerably as I work to meet the challenge deadline. As always, read and review, any and all constructive criticism welcome, flames shall be noted, extinguished, and used to pad my nest of ashes. As always, this is your one and only Shining Pheonix signing off.**


	2. Chapter 1 Plans for the Future

**Tales of the Jinchuuriki**

**Chapter I: Planning For the Future, Stories of the Past**

"Are you absolutely sure that us staying here is a good idea, Ojii-san?" Kisaragi Yuffie asked the elderly Hokage.

"Not one-hundred percent, but about ninety percent sure. If nothing else, I'd prefer to have you here than on the road back to Wutai." Sarutobi responded, again puffing on his pipe.

"That's some relief, but I'm not sure that it would solve any problems having him raised as a Shinobi of this village. His parents did make me his legal guardian, which means that my clan has a claim on him." Yuffie replied, looking out the window of Sarutobi's office.

"Would it make you feel any better knowing that another Jinchuuriki is also being raised in this village? There's no guarantee, of course, that the villagers will ever fully accept either of them, but there is always the possibility." The Hokage asked, watching the young woman in front of him.

"I suppose that's the best guarantee I'm gonna get," Yuffie sighed, turning away from the window. "I assume that you've already set a place up for me and Yuay?"

"Yes, I thought that, since the training that your family specializes in is speed that you would like a house built into the village walls." Sarutobi responded, taking another drag on his pipe.

"Heh, Tifa-sensei always said that this place was just one big track. Yeah, that would be perfect for training." Yuffie responded.

"You wouldn't mind possibly training the other Jinchuuriki ass well, would you?"

"I wouldn't mind it at all, as long as Jiraiya agrees to help." Yuffie responded with a grin. _Oh, I am gonna _love_ making that pervert sweat!_

Sarutobi sighed, he had seen that exact same smirk on Tifa's face, just before she made Jiraiya kiss the canvas. _Jiraiya, I hope you aren't afraid of facing a clone of one of your students on caffeine, she just might make you regret staying around!_

--Two Days Later, Jiraiya's house—

"Oh, come on Ero-sennin, it won't be that bad." Yuffie said, speaking to a cornered Jiraiya.

"'Won't be that bad'!? Sure, and Arashi didn't invent the Rasengan! You and your training methods are brutal at best!" Jiraiya shouted.

"Keep it down, do you want to wake them up?" Yuffie whispered, motioning toward a door leading to the room where four infants, two Jinchuuriki, a toad, and a dragon, slept.

"Alright, alright, but still, you still have some serious problems when it comes to training methods." Jiraiya responded, lowering his voice.

"That's why I'm dragging you into this, between the two of us we'll make an unbeatable teaching team. It's not like anybody else could teach them their parent's signature techniques." Yuffie replied.

"You know, I still can't believe that they're dead. They were the best student's I had ever had, and in less than a week I lost all three of them, not to mention Arashi's wife too."

"Yeah, Uchiha Keisha was her name, wasn't it? What happened to her, Sarutobi didn't tell me?" Yuffie asked.

"She died when Kyuubi attacked the hospital. She was in the recovery wing, that was the only place that Kyuubi managed to hit enough to cause any significant damage. The old man told me that she only got to hold Naruto once before she died." Jiraiya replied, a look of angst starting to form in his eyes.

"Damn it, no mother should have to go out like that, without being able to take care of her child." Yuffie muttered, her hands balling into fists.

"I can't say that I like it, but we can't do anything about that, but what we can do is raise their kids in a way that would make their parents proud." Jiraiya replied, putting a comforting hand on Yuffie's shoulder.

"You're right. Sorry, I just was thinking of what happened to Tifa-sensei and Cloud-san. Tifa-sensei never had a chance, she got hit with one of that damn dragon's tails when it came crashing down through their house. She just came back from the hospital with Yuay..."

"Don't think about that, think of how we're going to raise these little guys." Jiraiya said, trying to keep the young ninja women from spiraling into depression.

"You're right." Yuffie said, perking up a little. "So what do you think if…"

**A/N: (reaches for Kleenex, blows hard, sets 'Happy Hardcore Techno' on full blast) Damn, I really need to watch these angst chapters. Anyway, its time for a few responses, **

chm01 – Basically, it was just supposed to be an impromptu conference that needed a witness, which was really all Enma was there for.

Amei-chan – Arigato, from the bottom of my heart.

HeWhoWalksTheEarth – If you wish to join in the challenge, please contact Manatheron for all the rules. Also, I meant that I was using most of everything from FFVII except for the story line, you know, Meteor and Sephiroth, but I might throw in Kadaj and his gang just for someone for Naruto and his friends to fight.

Manatheron – Arigato! P.S., Hope you can recover all of your stories from your computer.

**Anyway, sorry for the short chapter, I tried writing a lighthearted follow up section, but it really didn't want to work in this chapter. Next chapter will be _much_ more on the up side, I promise. Anyway, constructive criticism welcome, flames shall be noted and added to my nest of ashes. This is Shining Pheonix, signing off.**


	3. Out for a Jog

**Chapter Two: Out for a jog**

"It's time to get up, Naruto."

"…"

"I'm not telling you again."

"Fivemoreminutes."

"Last chance."

"Go'way."

"You were warned."

SPLASH!

A soaking wet three-year-old Naruto jumped up out of bed, delivering a death glare to Jiraiya, who was holding a now empty cup of ice water.

"You didn't have to splash me!" Naruto shouted, _very_ upset that he had been splashed with freezing cold water in his bed.

"I told you to get up. Now, if you want breakfast you had better get dressed and downstairs." Jiraiya ordered, a slight grin on his face at Naruto's mad scramble around the room for his clothes, goggles, and weights. "We're going to train today, so hurry up."

Naruto paused at the comment, looked at Jiraiya once, and kicked himself into overdrive getting dressed. Jiraiya walked out of the room, his grin much wider now as he walked down the stairs into the kitchen of his two-story house. _Arashi, the kid is so much like you. It's a shame that you can't be here to be experiencing this for yourself._

Three minutes later, a now-dressed Naruto walked down the stairs with a yawning Gamakichi perched on his head. "Wha's for breakfast?" Naruto asked, trying not to yawn.

"Waffles and toast. You better hurry up and eat, we're starting out with laps this morning." Jiraiya answered, giving Naruto the same once-over that every parent gives their children before they go outside. Naruto was dressed in a metallic orange and black shirt, green goggles worn like a headband, and matching orange pants with black ninja sandals. Above the sandals, Naruto wore ankle weights and matching wrist weights. Under the ankle weights, bandages were visible, preventing rough folds that might rub and chafe after long training or running around in water.

Gamakichi jumped off Naruto's head to land on a small place mat set specifically for him at the table. "Let's hurry up then, the faster we get done with running the faster we can do something fun!" the toad chattered at his Jinchuuriki partner.

"What are you complaining about, I'm the one who does all the legwork!" Naruto argued good naturedly, taking a bite out of his waffle.

--Twenty Minutes Later—

Naruto, Gamakichi, and Jiraiya arrived at a small two story house built into the village walls, climbing the stairs next to the house to get on top of the wall. At the top of the stairs, Yuffie and Yuay were stretching, warming up for the group's morning run around the village. Yuay was dressed in a similar outfit to Naruto's, except his shirt and pants were black, a simple red ribbon holding his hair up out of his eyes. Yuay had blond, spiky hair that was far longer than Naruto's, if it were wet it would reach down to his shoulders. Yuay also wore black weights with white kanji for 'strength' and 'faith' inscribed on them. Yuay's dragon partner, a silver dragon roughly the same size as a large puppy, named Silva was riding on top of Yuay's head.

"You guys ready?" Yuffie asked after Jiraiya and Naruto had a chance to stretch a little.

"Yeah, let's go!" an over-enthusiastic Naruto exclaimed.

"Okay, on your mark," everyone got into a starting position for running, facing so they would run around Konoha counter-clockwise. "Get set, GO!" Yuffie shouted.

The first twenty minutes of the run was uneventful, except for the speed at which the group was moving, they had started out roughly a mile and a half away from the west gate and were now turning at the southeast corner of the wall. By some twist of fate, Yuffie, Jiraiya, Naruto, and Yuay weren't the only people out for a morning run on the village walls this morning. The southeast area of Konoha is the location of the Uchiha compound, and two brothers were beginning their morning jog just as Naruto's group rounded the corner.

"Mind if we tag along?" Itachi asked Jiraiya as he slowed down to let Yuay and Naruto catch their breath.

"Not at all, but you guys better keep up." Jiraiya responded.

Itachi nodded. He knew Jiraiya by reputation only, he had never had the opportunity to meet any of the legendary Sannin before, and he was honored that he would get to at least jog with one. Itachi took the moment before they started moving again to take a look at the rest of the group. _A Wutaian? I didn't think that any of them ever immigrated here._ Itachi thought as he saw Yuffie, who was instantly recognized for being from Wutai by special mark on her headband.

"High, my name's Naruto, what's yours?" Naruto asked the younger of the two Uchiha's.

"My name's Uchiha Sasuke. It's a pleasure to meet you." Sasuke answered, shaking Naruto's hand.

"My name is Yuay." Yuay said, also shaking Sasuke's hand. After the pleasantries had been exchanged, Yuffie got the group running again. Once they got back into the swing of running, Itachi asked a question. "What's a Wutaian like you doing in Konoha? Not that I'm saying that's bad or anything, just curious."

"The main reason I'm here is those kids. Sarutobi-ojii-san asked me to stay after my sensei died. She was from Konoha." Yuffie replied, able to answer with ease despite the quick pace that she set.

"You're sensei was from here? Who was she, I might have known her?" Itachi asked.

"You did know her, she was your sensei's wife." Jiraiya responded for Yuffie.

"Wait, Cloud-sensei's wife? Tifa-hime? I didn't realize that she took students from other countries." Itachi said, startled.

"It's not a fact that many people know, I have to ask that you keep it that way." Yuffie responded.

"Don't worry, you're secret's safe with me." Itachi answered, trying to smile while running.

--The Uchiha Compound, Clan Hall—

"You should have came to me that night, Hokage-sama. He is my sister's son, after all." Uchiha Fugaku, head of the Konoha Police Force and leader of the Uchiha clan, said.

"You're right, of course. However, I did promise his father that I wouldn't tell anyone else until I told him. Everyone who knows, besides Naruto and Yuffie, had to figure it out for themselves." Sarutobi answered, taking a sip of tea.

Fugaku turned from the window he had been looking out of to face the elderly Hokage, a sour look on his face. "I know that, but he should still be here, raised with his family. I know that village law dictates that the next of kin on the father's side of an orphaned child has the first chance to claim him, but Tsunade, Arashi's closest relative, has more or less walked off the face of the earth. Since that is the case, his mother's clan may legally claim him."

"True, but do you think you can back up your claim in the clan council?" Sarutobi asked, again sipping at his cup of tea.

"I'm positive that I can. Above all, I will not allow my nephew to live alone like this. Yes, I know that Jiraiya-dono is raising him, and I would welcome him as Naruto's permanent guardian into the clan council, but an Uchiha should be raised by Uchiha." Fugaku replied angrily.

"If that is your personal decision, I'm not going to stop you. I know that you don't view the boy as the Kyuubi, but the same can't be said for all of the rest of your clan. If your clan council agrees to your claim on Naruto, then all is well and good. If they don't the currant arrangements stay. Is this acceptable to you?" Sarutobi asked.

"I agree to your terms." Fugaku said, deflating slightly. "For some reason, it seems to me that this is a lose-lose situation for Naruto. If he gets claimed by the clan, then the council can assert it's pressure on him to turn him into a weapon. If he isn't claimed by the clan, I don't think that the village's opinion of him is going to change."

"You may be right, my friend. Let us hope that it doesn't come to that." Sarutobi replied, lighting his pipe.

"The clan council meets three days from now, can I ask you to be there for moral support?" Fugaku asked.

"I'll be there, but in between now and then we should explain the situation to Naruto, Itachi, and Sasuke."

--Later that day, Training Ground Three—

"Alright, it's a rather simple exercise, and one that you'll find useful for just many things." Jiraiya explained. "You take a set amount of chakra, focus it in your feet, and walk up the tree."

Jiraiya demonstrated, walking up a tree parallel to the ground. Naruto and Yuay sized up the tree, each boy drew a special kunai, a rubber training kunai with a special dye on it that marked whatever it touched red, focused chakra to their feet, and set off running to try to make it to the top of the tree. Naruto made it about four steps up the tree before he fell, Yuay made about four and a half steps up before falling.

Yuffie laughed, both boys stood back up, dusted themselves off, and tried again. "Well," she told Jiraiya. "They certainly can be persistent at times."

"It seems that they're gonna be occupied for a few hours, so I'm gonna slip off for a few minutes." Jiraiya said, slowly moving toward the edge of the training ground while he was talking.

"You're going where, now?" Yuffie asked innocently, fingering a folded fuuma shuriken while watching Jiraiya out of the corner of her eye.

_Oh shit! If she figures out where I'm _really _going, she'll kill me!_ "Just for a drink, all this training is thirsty work." Jiraiya said nervously.

"That's not a bad idea, why not bring back drinks for all of us?" Yuffie again asked with a voice of complete innocence, in stark contrast to the evil smirk starting to cross her face. _If you think I bought that line of bull, Jiraiya, then you deserve a good thrashing._

Jiraiya sighed in defeat. _Damn it, Tifa! Why did you have to raise _another_ anti-pervert student?_ "Alright, I'll bring back drinks."

"Thank you so much, Jiraiya-kun." Yuffie said, her smirk threatening to take over her entire face. _Jiraiya, you're problems are only just beginning._

**A/N: Another chapter down. Much lighter than last chapter. I'm having a little difficulty in deciding, so I'm holding a poll, who should be the third man on Naruto and Sasuke's team? All of the original rookie nine, Yuay, Neji, and Lee are available for the position. Before I get any reviews asking, no, Itachi will not be going psycho and killing off the Uchiha clan, both he and they are going to be sticking around. I thank each and every one of you who reviewed, please keep them coming! As always, constructive criticism is welcome, flames shall be noted and added to my nest of ashes. Your ever-burning author, this is Shining Pheonix signing out.**


	4. Chapter 3: Of Materia and Demons

**Tales of the Jinchuuriki**

**Chapter III: Of Materia and Demons**

**--**The council chamber of the High Demon Ruling Council, Two Years Since the Sealing of Kyuubi--

"You asked for my presence?" Sarutobi asked as he walked into the darkened chamber. Unlike almost any other human, Sarutobi didn't even feel the need to shudder, this wasn't the first time he had been called beffore the Yokai council and he doubted that it would be his last.

"**It has been some time since we have last called you to these chambers, Sarutobi. We had hoped that the years would have been kinder to you.**" a feminine voice belonging to a tiger-like demon to Sarutobi's left, seated behind a rather large table, commented.

"Being forced out of retirement into this troubling era would not be kind to anyone in my position." Sarutobi responded. "I do, however, thank you for your concern."

"**It isn't often that one of your kind reaches your age and level of wisdom, so you should be able to understand our concern that we don't wish to lose one such as you.**" a wolf demon to Sarutobi's right retorted.

"**Now that you have arrived, Sarutobi, we wish to ask you a few questions regarding the two new jinchuuriki that reside in your village.**" the entire chamber fell silent, at these words from a large pheonix at the table, obviously the chairman of the assmebled council.

"Oh? What sort of questions do you have in mind?" the elderly Hokage asked, almost wishing he was allowed to smoke in the council chamber.

"**Mainly, we are interested in their well-being. Those two are in a rather unique position, unlike other Jinchuuriki they have actual families that are willing to claim them. Also, they are in a position were their respective demon clans are willing to claim them as their own.**"

"The demon clans are willing to claim their Jinchuuriki? Then why haven't their representatives come to claim the nine yet?"

"**Unfortunately, we cannot reveal ourselves in any force at this time.**" the wolf replied again.

"Why not, you have done so in the past?" Sarutobi questioned.

"**We have lost all but two of our human-based organizations, forcing us to use methods that could possibly break the treaty we hold with the human Daimyou's. While this normally wouldn't be a problem, there seems to be a new organization roaming the world, with the intention of unsealing _him_, the one to whome we give no name.**" the pheonix answered.

"I hadn't realized that most of the other organizations had collapsed, who else remains, besides Konoha?"

"**SOLDIER, and it's sub-organization, the Turks. They have been looking in to what happened to the other organizations, we hope that their investigations will turn up something useful.**" the tiger demon answered. "**We know that you have had greivances with their commander in the past, so we are not asking that you join forces with them, but we do ask that you not interfere with each other.**"

"This I can do, what do you need from me and my village?"

"**We ask that you continue to watch over the Jinchuuriki until a representative from their clans can come to retreive them.**" the pheonix responded. "**It would also be appreciated if you could find accomedations in your village for the other five as well. We wish to keep the holders of the keys as much out of reach of this new organization as possible.**"

"What you ask should be simple enough, once the other Jinchuuriki have reached Konoha. However, I harbor some doubts as to whether their respective villages will _allow_ them to leave or not."

"**That is a task that we must leave in your hands. you know of our laws regarding interfering in human government.**"

"Yes, that Yokai shall not meddle in the affairs of Human and Hanyou Governments. Sometimes, i wish that we hadn't made that treaty." Sarutobi mumbled under his breath. "It would make dealing with some o fht eother hidden villages that much easier."

"**Be that as it may, the treaty is still in effect. I can offer you no more than an admonishment for good luck.**"

"Arigato, Fenikkusu-sama. With your permision, I must take my leave." Hearing no objections, Sarutobi bowed before walking out of the council chambers._ This is going to get interesting, it's going to take all that we've got to hold the world together as it is, we won't have a chance if _he_'s revived. Naruto, Yuay, a lot is riding on your shoulders. For all of our sakes, I hope your up to it!_

--Uchiha compound, Council chambers, present day--

_How do I keep winding up stuck in these dumb council chambers? The first thing I'm doing when I get back to the office is making a law that makes it illegal to hold a non-sensitive meeting in a windowless room! _Sarutobi ranted in his skull, disliking the stuffy council chamber that the Uchiha clan preferred to hold their meetings in.

"Now, the next order of business is the proposition of adoption presented by Uchiha Fugaku regarding one Kazama Uchiha Naruto." The council spokesman, an elderly Uchiha with gray hair,wearing formal robes, announced.

"_Kazama_ _Uchiha_ Naruto? I was under the impression that we didn't know who the vessel's parents were." another councilman asked, looking at Sarutobi accusingly.

"It is true that I intentionally held back that information from the public, but I am sure that you are all aware of the mairrage of Kazama Arashi and Uchiha Keisha five years ago. The birth of their child was kept quiet, lest some old enemy of Arashi's might use the situation to there advantage. However, let there be no doubt that the information sitting before you now is indeed completely accurate." Sarutobi replied, striking a match to light his pipe.

"This being the case, I could not, in good consience, allow my sister's son to be raised outside the Uchiha family." Fugaku stated, staring down the council member who had raised the question.

"That stated, what is the likelyhood that the child could develop the Sharingan? After all, it would be completely unfair to bring the child into our clan, raising his hopes that he could use an abbility only to find out that he never even had a chance of doing so later." A third council member, an elderly woman, asked.

"There's every chance that he has the _potential_ to awaken the Sharingan, but we have no way of judging the _liklyhood_ until he actually does or does not awaken the eye. The odds that he does so is roughly the same that every member of the Uchiha clan has at birth." Fugaku replied, grateful that he had at least a somewhat sympathetic ear on the council already.

"If that is the case, then I see no reason to deny Fugaku his right as uncle and closest living relative of the child to adopt this child and bring him into his proper position in the Uchiha clan, a position that he should have had already." the councilwoman stated gently.

"That is all well and good, but I think you are missing an important detail, the child is the vessel of the Kyuubi! What's to stop him from murdering us all in our sleep?" another councilman asked.

"Sarutobi, how strong is the Yondaime's seal in that regard?" the council head asked.

"The 'Death Seal' cannot be broken by Yokai demons, all the Kyuubi can do is make vile threats to Naruto, who as jailkeeper can shut him out. Also, I believe that the way the Shiki Fuujin is designed is that the demon's power can be drawn upon by the Jinchuuriki without the seal being damaged, weakened, or unraveled." Sarutobi replied.

"Is this information you found out after the fact?" the councilman who had interrupted asked.

"No, Arashi showed me the design long before that fateful night, some of the information I did have to retreive from his notes, however."

"So, there's a chance that the seal might not functioned as designed?"

"That's a risk that everything has." The council woman noted. "Furthermore, the matter shouldn't even be open to deliberation. The Kyuubi has been sealed by the Yondaime, one of our most accomplished seal masters to have ever lived. If he believed that the seal would work, then there is no need to worry."

"This being stated, if there are no other objections, then all in favor of allowing Fugaku to adopt the child Kazama Uchiha Naruto as his prerogative as uncle and closest living relative, raise your hand." the council head called for the vote.

The vote was nearly unanimous, with only two of the ten assembled councilmembers voting for. The meeting was adgourned shortly after, the only remaining item being the announcement of the time for the next meeting.

"Where is Naruto at the moment?" Fugaku asked as he and Sarutobi walked toward the Hokage's tower.

"Right now? Probably just sitting down to dinner." Sarutobi answered, looking up at the town clock tower.

"Just now? Does Jiraiya normally keep him up this late training?" Fugaku asked.

"Not quite, you see, Yuffie decided that a trip to Wutai was in order, to show Naruto and Yuay a different shinobi village." Sarutobi answered, enjoying the late evening breeze as he puffed his pipe.

"So, Yuffie _is _training both of them. I had my suspisions as much when Itachi and Sasuke met them running on the village walls a few weeks ago."

"Right, Yuffie was rather insistant that they take the trip to her hometown, personally I think she was just more than a little homesick and wanted them to see a new place." again Sarutobi puffed his pipe, thinking of Yuffie inevitably led his thoughts to Jiraiya's team, who had become like his own children to him, as much as his own son, Asuma. There were still days when he woke up, fully expecting to see Arashi in his office, with Cloud and Tifa with him, waiting for him to arrive so they could all go out for lunch at Ichiraku's.

_Perhapse that's the way it should be._ Sarutobi thought as he entered the Hokage's tower. _I don't ever wan't to forget their smiling faces, and their legacies are my responsibility at the moment._ Reloading his pipe while thinking, Sarutobi climbed the stairs to his office, where a stack of unsigned paperwork still awaited him.

--Wutai, Kisaragi family compound--

Yuffie held a small, glowing green orb up in front of her students. "Alright, pay attention, this is called Materia, and it's a very special gem. It allows you to use a power called 'magic' and do things that you couldn't otherwise."

"Demo, doesn't that make it like jutsu, they let you do things that you couldn't otherwise?" Naruto asked, Gamakichi perched on his usual spot on his head.

"You're on the right track, but Materia lets you do things that even jutsu can't accomplish. For example, there isn't a jutsu that lets you manipulate gravity, but there are gravity-based spells. Also, spells don't use up any of your chakra." Yuffie continued her explanation.

"If spells doesn't use up chakra, what does it use? It has to use some form of energy to work, doesn't it?" Yuay asked, Mirror wrapping himself loosely around the boy's shoulders.

"You're right, you can't use any type of art, Alchemy, jutsu, spells, or anything else, without an expenditure of energy. However, spells and jutsu work of two different energy systems. Magic uses Manna, spirit energy, to power spells. If you drain your Manna reserves down too far, you won't be able to cast spells, and if you somehow mannage to completely drain your reserves of _any_ form of energy, you _will_ die. Chakra, unlike Manna, requires two different types of energy to be present to be produced, physical energy, ki, and mental energy, chi. By combining the two, you produce a new energy, called chakra, which can power many different things. Just like with manna, if you completely drain yourself of chakra you _will die_, do not pass go, do not collect 200 ryou."

"Are there other ways of casting spells and jutsu, without using your own energy?" Yuay asked, tilting his head slightly to one side.

"What you're talking about is a weapon called a 'caster', and it is possible, but I'll come back to it in a minute. Back to Materia, there are five major types, Green allows you to simply cast a certain range of spells, Blue enhances your abbility with your current spell set, Yellow will allow you to use a physical ability that you couldn't normally, Purple materia will increase a specific abbility, and Red materia gives you the abbility to cast summoning magic. Of course, like everything, there are advantages and disadvantages to using different types of materia, for example, equipping Green materia generally increases your manna reserves, but decreases your stamina, with me so far?" getting a double set of nods, Yuffie continued. "Alright, back to Yuay's question on casting spells without using any of your own manna, you need a weapon called a 'caster'. There are several different types of casters, but the most famous type is the gun type. To use a caster, you need a 'shell', which is basicly just a high-level spell that has been packed into a projectile. After loading the caster, you can only use the shell once, and then it's used up for good."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just carry a caster, then? It sounds like even someone who doesn't have any aptitude at all for magic and jutsu could hold his own if he had a pocketfull of shells." Naruto asked.

"Some people think so, and it really all comes down to personal preferance and how willing you are to spend money on shells to use. Make no mistake, shells are not cheap, and you only get one use out of them, but materia you can use over and over again. The choice on which to use is up to each person, personnaly I would base my choice on how much aptitude I have for using Materia. Almost anyone can _use_ materia, given the proper equipment, but not many have a natural _gift_ for using them." Yuffie answered.

"Can we try using a spell?" Yuay asked, his pupiless blue eyes begging, forming the classic **Puppy-dog eye no jutsu**.

_Must, Resist, Evil, Cuteness!_ "Alright, I'll let you guys _try_ to use a 'Cure' materia, at least that way you won't hurt yourselves." Yuffie succumbed, handing a green orb to each boy. The four year olds cheered and ran over to the Kisaragi family training grounds, trying to figure out the nuances of magic. Yuffie stood up from the cross-legged sitting position she'd been holding on the lawn for over an hour, trying to teach her young wards about different styles of abbilities. Before Yuffie could follow the pair of troublemakers to the training grounds, three figures entered the compound. All three figures wore Western-style business suits and dark sunglasses, making it difficult to distinguish gender at a distance, but after walking several feet toward the trio, Yuffie realized that she knew all thre of them from her former job at SOLDIER. The three were Reno, Elena, and Rude, better known as members of the Turks, their job was to gather information, including information on possible new recruits into the SOLDIER organization, and they were allowed to use any means they felt necessary to accomplish their objectives.

Oddly, they were also some of Yuffie's closest friends from that organization, since their job discriptions were very simmilar to hers.

"Long time, no see guys. Whay brings you all the way to Wutai?" Yuffie asked, holding her right palm out in greetings.

"It seems both business and pleasure, and it has been a long time." Elena replied taking off her dark glasses. "We were sent here to investigate a new organization that seems to have sprung up. Getting to see you again is an added bonus."

Yuffie shook Elena's hand and motioned for the three to follow her further into the grounds. "Can I get you guys anything to drink?" Yuffie asked. Even if _she_ wasn't very traditional, she did treat her guests in a traditional manner, which meant that no guest entered her home without the offer of refreshments.

"I don't believe you have the time for any such thing, First Class Kisaragi Yuffie." a voice from behind the business-suit clad spies stated.

Reno spun around, his elecro-rod in hand. "Just who the hell are you?" he asked the two cloaked figures who had snuck up on the group.

"Who we are is unimportant, whome we represent is." The taller of the pair stated. Both figures were clad in black cloaks with red clouds embroidered on them. The taller of the two had blond hair tied back in a simple pony tail, while the shorter of the two wore a mask that obscured most of his head, save his eyes.

"Oh, and just who the hell do you represent?" Reno asked again, smiling as he slid the power indicator on his rod from 'high' to 'overkill'. Rude and Elena both made a mental note to wash Reno's mouth out with bleach after this.

"We represent the Great One, the One whome all must fear, and whome all shall respect. He has asked us to come to you and extend an invitation, to join us in our effort to free the Great One from his unjust imprisonment to take back this world and to reshape it in his own image. To those of us who help him, he has promised unimaginable power, power beyond anything even the Council of Yokai could possibly possess. What is your answer?" the taller figure continued.

"Here's my answer, go to hell!" Reno swung his rod at the smaller figure, catching him off-guard. The rod connected with the figure's head, knocking off the wide-brimmed ceremonial hat. Before Reno could retreat, a large tail appeared from under the cloak, smacking Reno into Rude, who assisted his comrade back to his feet.

"You would do well to think this over before making that your final answer." The smaller figure stated, completely uninjured by Reno's hastily swung attack. "We do not force any to help us, but if you become an obstacle we will remove you. We will give you three days to decide."

The smaller figure then used his tail to retreive the dropped hat before following his partner away from the Kisaragi estate.

"That, I would assume," Yuffie stated, watching the retreating figures. "Would be what you would call a lead."

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update, my writing habits have become rather eccentric of late. Due to circumstances outside of my control, my laptop went belly-up, taking three nearly-completed chapters down with it, including the pilot chapter for my new story. Partialy due to that problem, the release date for my new story has been pushed back, and my updating speed for my first story 'The Chronicles of Naruto and Tsunade', will decrease a bit.**

**Not a lot of action in this chapter, but there _will_ be a major fight scene in the next one, I promise! Thank you, everyone who reviewed, please keep them coming! Polling for the third slot on the team is still open, and I am close to deciding all of the major pairings. Pairings that are _possible_ are listed below:**

**Naruto/Temari**

**Naruto/FemHaku**

**Naruto/OC**

**Yuffie/Kakashi**

**Yuay/Temari (No overlap with Naruto/Temari)**

**Yuay/FemHaku (No overlap with Naruto/FemHaku)**

**Yuay/OC**

**Jiraiya/Tsunade**

**Sasuke/Sakura**

**Shikamaru/Ino**

**Elena/Tseng**

**Zack/Aeris (Yes, they will be appearing and they are very much alive)**

**Rock Lee/Sakura (No overlap with Sasuke/Sakura)**

**If anyone has feelings for or against a particular pairing please tell me in review and give me a reason _why_. This is not so much a poll as it is a measuring stick for me, so anyone just telling me 'I like this pairing' without giving me a reason why will not be given much weight in my final decision. That said, any and all constructive criticizm is always welcome, flames shall be noted, laughed at, and added to my nest. This is your ever burning author, Shining Pheonix signing off.**


	5. Battle! Yuffie vs Deidera

**Tales of the Jinchuuriki, Chapter IV: Battle! Yuffie vs. Deidera!**

**--Midgar, SOLDIER headquarters—**

"So, you mean to tell me that after all this time, Yuffie _finally_ gets around to telling us that Cloud and Tifa had a kid and that Cloud was forced to use _that_ spell in order to defeat Altima?" a rather agitated man wearing a rather expensive western-style business suit sporting a top-knot asked, staring out of his office window at a loose parade rest.

"Yes, sir. Apparently, F.C. Journeyman Rank Yuffie wished to train the child a little outside of anyone's influence for a while before she let either us or her clan get a hold of him." A brown haired female intern, wearing a western-style conservative skirt and top answered, reading a report off of a clipboard. "Elena also notes that all three members of our former 'Konoha\SOLDIER' combo squad died in a similar fashion, leaving some question as to whether their deaths were accidental or not. She also suggests that now might be a good time to re-establish our link with Konoha."

"She would. Tell me, what's your opinion on the failure of our previous 'K\S' squad?" The man asked.

"Honestly, sir, I don't think that the theory is flawed. In my not so professional opinion, I think that the failure of the previous squad was unfortunate circumstances, not the squad itself. Why do you ask, Mr. Tseng?"

"Just asking for someone's opinion. Did Elena say anything about her impressions on the two in Yuffie's care?"

"She did, she seems to think that both would be excellent candidates for SOLDIER training, and she also suggests that they might be able to test out straight into Second Class, maybe even First." The intern stopped and did a double take on the clipboard. "Is that even possible, sir?"

"In theory it is, but it's almost completely unheard of. In all of our organization's history, only ten people ever tested straight into First Class, including our 'beloved' leader."

"You aren't implying that _that_ squad tested straight into First Class, are you?"

"It doesn't matter right now." Tseng replied, closing his eyes as if looking away from some memory. "Please send this message to Elena, and find several bottles of that fizzy drink that's so popular with the apprentices right now." Tseng turned on his heel, handing the intern a sealed envelope before retrieving a book off of his desk and striding toward the door.

"Where will you be, sir?" the intern asked.

"The library, I have some research that needs to be done." With that, Tseng disappeared out the door.

--Wutai, Kisaragi Family Compound, the day following the visit of the strangers—

"So, you guys really don't know much about this new organization, do you?" Yuffie asked as she set a tray of tea down in front of her guests.

"That about sums it up." Reno replied, receiving a smack across the hand by Elena as he tried to reach for a small tea cake before anyone else was served.

"Unfortunately," Rude continued for his smarting partner. "This group seems to have connections to one or more of the darkest demons, possibly even 'He Whom We Give No Name'. If this is the case, we need to do something about this group rather quickly." Rude accepted a cup of tea from Yuffie with a short seated bow, oblivious to Reno's protest. "As we found out last night, these guys are _very_ violent, a trademark in _His_ followers."

"Then our priority should be to find out the numbers and identities of the members. Finding out what their up to comes after that." Yuffie stated.

"You're not the only one who thinks those should be our priorities." Elena stated, looking at a note over her cup of tea.

"That wouldn't happen to be from Tseng-taichi would it?" Reno asked.

"It is," Elena stated. "He seems to agree with Yuffie-senpai, we have to know _who_ our enemy is before we can do anything about them."

"Just one thing bugs me," Jiraiya commented, having returned from his trip to the local onsen just after the 'visitors' had left. "They said that they don't 'force' anyone to join them, but knowing that _His_ followers have resorted to violence to gain members in the past, I don't trust these guys any farther than I can throw them not to set up anyone they want so that they're in a position were they _can't _refuse."

"Jiraiya-dono is right," Elena responded. "Speaking of that, where's the two chibis?"

"They're in the garden with Arche, playing hide-and-seek." Yuffie answered. Arche happened to be Yuffie's youngest cousin, a fiery ten-year-old brunette who liked to get into everything and had happily volunteered to keep an eye on the jinchuuriki duo.

"At least the garden's in the center of the compound, you'd have to be able to get _into_ the main building before you could get into there." Reno said, relaxing a little.

Without warning, Yuffie sat up straighter, as if she had just been zapped with electricity, a look of horror on her face. "What's wrong, senpai?" Elena asked. Yuffie didn't respond, instead, she quickly stood up and quickly vacated the room, heading toward the central gardens.

"What's with her?" Reno asked, turning toward Jiraiya. Jiraiya raised his hands and shook his head, he didn't have a clue either. Rude and Elena stood up, motioning for Reno and Jiraiya to follow them.

Yuffie worked her way quickly toward the gardens, taking a handful of materia from her supply pouch and slotting it into her Minerva Band hidden under her cloth armguard. _Something isn't right, I can _feel_ it._ Yuffie was so wrapped up in her determination to get to the gardens that she didn't even notice the gaped mouths of several elders as she rushed past them, the rest of the group not far behind.

--Kisaragi Family Gardens—

Deidera couldn't believe his luck. It had been relatively simple to sneak into the gardens, a simple invisibility jutsu had gotten him into the compound, finding his way to the gardens had taken him all of one minute, a personal record for such a large compound. He realized he had finally hit pay dirt when he saw to runts with sunny-blond hair walk into the garden, when nearly everyone else in the compound had either dark brown or red hair. A quick check with his scope revealed that both the kids and their pets had _far_ higher chakra levels than the norm, the one with whisker marks on his cheeks had nearly _nine_ times the norm in terms of chakra, a ridiculous amount even by Akatsuki standards. _When these kids hit puberty, they'll be unstoppable!_ The cloak wearing ninja thought, giving a small menacing grin from his position in the bushes near where the two jinchuuriki were playing. _Now, as long as no one else walks into the garden…_

Yuffie choose that exact moment to walk into the garden, giant cross-shuriken in hand. _I know you're here, you bastard, just come on out and show your self already!_ Yuffie thought, gripping her shuriken tighter, using her chakra to sweep the garden for anything that didn't belong. She sensed Naruto and Yuay next to the koi pond, watching their partners splashing around with the fish. Arche wasn't to far off, arranging flower pots to match her sense of aesthetics. Finally, Yuffie found what she was looking for, an additional energy signature in the bushes next to the koi pond, one that matched the signature of the girly-looking ninja from yesterday._ Got'cha red handed!_

Yuffie didn't waste any time, crossing the distance from the entrance to the intruder with speed that would have made Gai in his prime proud. Yuffie opened up negotiations with a swift roundhouse kick that knocked the still-invisible Deidera into the far wall away from the children. Yuffie barely registered that Elena and Rude had ran in behind her and scooped up the children, rapidly retreating back inside the compound.

"Looks like it's just you and me, un." Deidera stated as he pulled himself out of the imprint he made in the wall. "I'll take those jinchuuriki, even if I have to blow this place to oblivion to do it, un!"

"So that's what you guys are after," Yuffie replied as she fell into her battle stance. "You're after the nine keys that open the Sealed Gate. Rather ambitious, but you have to be completely blind to the results if that's your ambition, every time _He'_s been unsealed _he _ consumed every single one of _his_ followers to increase _his_ power."

"You honestly believe that load of crap that's in the history books, un?" Deidera asked as he began to rummage around in his supply pack. "We've been promised power beyond anything a mere _mortal_ like yourself can understand, and it's a known fact that any demon, once they've made a promise, is bound to keep it no matter what."

"Not all demons are bound by that rule." Yuffie replied, staring down the cloaked ninja as she mentally began accessing her manna. _Great bird of fire, hear my call…_

Deidera made the first move, launching his explosive clay bird at Yuffie from an odd angle, making it difficult to dodge or block.

Yuffie didn't even bother trying, merely thrusting her left hand in front of her as multi-colored spheres with the runes of summoning marked on them appeared and gathered into one burning white one in front of her palm as she yelled out. "_**Fenikkusu-no-hi**_!" Yuffie seemed to disappear, only to be replaced by a giant, red-gold bird with enormous wings. What made the bird even more impressive, however, was the fact that multi-colored flames danced all over it's body. Yuffie reappeared on top of it's beak, the only place that wasn't covered with flames.

"**It's been a long time since you've summoned me, egg-chick. What is it you wish?**" the giant bird asked Yuffie, not even noticing the explosion as the explosive clay flew straight into it.

Yuffie smiled, Warbeak was the phoenix who had 'adopted' her when she had been a child, just beginning to learn how to summon-cast. "I have a favor to ask, Warbeak-Okaa-san. That ninja down there has tried to steal both the egg-chick in my care and the egg-chick of one of my close friends. He mustn't go unpunished!"

Warbeak puffed up her feathers. Among phoenix, kidnapping, or rather, egg-napping, was one of only three crimes that would get you incenerated with out a trial, not to mention the fact that the victim's family would generally demand that your ashes be spread out in a river. To say the least, Warbeak was far above the pissed point, she was _**FURIUS!**_ "**Do not worry, my egg-chick, this one shall never know rebirth!**" The flames around Warbeak intensified a hundred fold, blinding everyone crazy enough to watch from the windows.

Diedera's mouth fell open. He had suddenly realized _**exactly**_ how deep of a grave he had dug for himself. It was time to make an escape attempt while the oversized bird was still working herself up into a blood-rage. Reaching into his supply pack, Deidera pulled out a large lump of explosive clay, quickly ingesting it through the mouths in his hands. Spitting it back out, the clay took the form of a giant falcon. Wasting little time, Deidera mounted his sculpture and ordered it to take flight. The sculpture quickly carried Deidera out of the compound, but he realized, as he looked over his shoulder, that his troubles were just beginning. The phoenix had taken flight, moving faster than his poor sculpture could ever hope to. In a matter of moments he would be over flown, and who knew what kind of horrible end the maddened bird had in mind for him! To drive the point home, Warbeak sent a horizontal column of white flames at him, which he barely dodged in time.

_Can't run, can't hide, all I can do is fight!_ Deidera quickly spun his falcon sculpture around, heading straight toward the enraged phoenix, giving the bird a momentary startle. Using that moment to his advantage, Deidera quickly fashioned several small birds out of his explosive clay. Sending the small sculptures at the oversized birds eyes in hopes of a lucky hit, Deidera began weaving his way around the less agile large bird, dropping explosive notes every chance he had. Yuffie quickly realized what had happened and began her counter assault. Gathering her manna, Yuffie unleashed her spell. "_**Thundrega!**_"

The lightning bolts struck everywhere at once, destroying the small sculptures while the chain lightning destroyed the explosive tags. Just for good measure, Yuffie even tried throwing a bolt or two at Deidera, who made good use of his higher mobility and dodged them. Externally, Deidera was calm, as if he had planned on things turning out exactly like this, internally, Deidera was sweating oceans. _What the _FUCK_ kind of jutsu was _THAT!? _I've never heard of anyone creating such a high-powered ration jutsu! If she did that just to test my defenses, I am fully and totally screwed, fucked, and damned._ Making a split second decision, Deidera quickly dived into the houses of Wutai's residential district. Just as soon as he dove into the houses, both Yuffie's lightning strikes and Warbeak's fire assault ceased, as if someone flipped a switch.

_Thought so._ Deidera smirked. _They don't dare attack me as long as I'm in the houses, this is the perfect opportunity to escape._ Deidera didn't waste anytime making his escape, flying low through the houses until he was at the base of the mountains at the edge of town. After Deidera was sure that the crazy bird and her lunatic summoner hadn't followed him, he began making the long trek back to the Akatsuki's base of operations, well hidden within the giant Great Northern Crater. _Leader isn't going to like this, there's actually a group out there that's at least as strong as we are, if not stronger. No, Leader-sama isn't going to like this at all._

Back in Wutai, Warbeak had set Yuffie down on top of the giant statues cut into the mountain range that bordered the town. "**I apologize, egg-chick, I did not destroy that egg-breaker as I promised. Can you forgive me?**"

"What are you apologizing for?" Yuffie asked, giving the phoenix that searching look that only parents are capable of. "It's as much my fault as it is yours that he got away. Don't worry about it, we'll just have to get him next time."

Warbeak nodded, accepting Yuffie's words. "**Very well, egg-chick, until next time.**" With those parting words, Warbeak disappeared in a rush of red-gold flames. Yuffie stood there a moment, thinking. _Just when did _I _become the parent of our relationship?_ Yuffie mentally assessed her previous conversation. _Was it when I agreed to raise Yuay, or was it earlier then that?_

Deciding that deliberating on a mountain top wasn't getting her anywhere, Yuffie began the hike back to the Kisaragi compound, and back to the small child that she was beginning to seriously begin considering as her own son.

--Meanwhile, in Konoha—

Sarutobi leaned back from his desk, slowly puffing his pipe. It had been a busy week for the elderly Hokage, he had met with three different 'kages, trying to convince them to give up their jinchuuriki. The Kazekage had absolutely refused to relinquish his countries jinchuuriki, claiming that Konoha already had more than it's fair share of 'Demon's power of human sacrifice'. However, both the Reikage and Mizukage had relented, claiming that they didn't want the 'tainted' children in their midst any longer. Sarutobi secretly thought that at least one of the two countries had more than one jinchuuriki as well, but he didn't say anything during the negotiations. What had pleasantly surprised him was the fact that both of the new jinchuuriki had at least one person as extended family coming with them.

As the Hokage was silently reminiscing, a Jonin with a lop-sided hite-ate walked in the door, making a tapping motion in the air as if to say 'I did knock'.

"Well, this is a bit earlier than expected, Kakashi. What brings you to my office?" the elderly Hokage sat his pipe on his desk as he gave the constantly tardy Jonin a good look, trying to determine if perhaps Kakashi had developed a fever.

"I just thought you would like to know that the container of the two-tailed cat, Haruno Sakura, has just arrived in the village with her aunt." Kakashi pulled out his copy of Icha Icha Paradise, a book rather hard to find now that it's author, Jiraiya, had been hospitalized with multiple concussions after Yuffie had found him in writing the next issue of the book when he was _supposed_ to be out looking for a hamburger.

"Excellent. Please tell them to meet me here so I can show them to their new quarters." Sarutobi ordered, giving the book a longing glance.

"Your wish is my command, Hokage-sama." Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

A few minutes later, a middle-aged woman with light red hair entered the Hokage's office, closely followed by a three-year old girl adorned with pink hair, green eyes, and a pair of black cat ears sticking out above her head in place of human ears as well as a black cat tail swishing about behind her.

"Ah, Haruno-san, it's a pleasure to have you here in Konoha." Sarutobi greeted as he rose from behind his desk.

"Is it truly a pleasure, or do you simply want us for power?" The middle aged woman asked, keeping a tight grip on the young neko-girl's shoulder.

"Obviously, the Reikage didn't tell you everything, did he? I guess I should explain then. Unlike every other hidden village, Konoha works directly with the Yokai council. I believe you know at least a little about them?" Sarutobi asked.

"I know that it's an organization that regulates demon movements in our world, as well as keeps an eye on world affairs." The elder Haruno answered.

"Close enough. Anyway, the council has asked me to bring together the jinchuuriki and house them in this village. There are already two others who call Konoha 'home', and I was hoping that you and your niece would do the same."

"Why would the Yokai Council want you to gather all the jinchuuriki? Are they seeking to sever all ties with the human world?" the red-haired woman asked, obviously not taking Sarutobi at face value, but intrigued enough that she would stay and listen.

"No, unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. You see, the nine biju, a long time ago, worked together to seal an ancient, human-hating, evil demon away. There is currently an organization that is seeking to find a way to _un_seal him, and that must be prevented at any cost. The purpose of gathering the jinchuuriki is to get them out of the open, make them that much harder to get to."

"You truly mean that, don't you?" the middle aged woman stated, slightly amazed. "In that case, why not train the jinchuuriki as shinobe? That way, they'll at least be able to defend themselves as a last resort."

"That had been my plan from the start. The reason I don't have the other two jinchuuriki here with me to introduce them to you is due to the fact that their on a training trip to Wutai at the moment."

Sakura, sensing that neither of the two adults was paying any attention to her, leapt onto the desk and curled up, much like a cat would, and promptly fell asleep. "Been a long day for someone?" Sarutobi politely asked as the elder Haruno stared at her niece, astonished. Smiling at the memory of Naruto doing something amazingly similar, Sarutobi scooped the snoozing neko-girl off of his desk and motioned toward the door.

"Come on now, I'll lead you to your new home." Sarutobi stated, walking out of his office.

--Konoha-no-sato, Uchiha Compound—

"What were you thinking, letting Fugaku adopt that monster!?" one of the clan councilman shouted, furious.

"Simple," stated the other councilman. "The clan needs a powerful weapon. Itachi has shown great promise, as well as his younger brother Sasuke, but it never hurts to have a backup plan for a backup plan."

"You're planning on turning that, that _thing_ into a weapon for the clan?"

"That is the general intent. However, we may want to have Shishui increase his surveillance on both the jinchuuriki and Itachi. I have no desire to have my throught slit in my sleep."

"Ah, I forgot that you had planted Shishui as a means of keeping Itachi under control."

"Yes, but soon he won't be necessary, and we'll be able to put this village right were it belongs, squarely under the thumb of the Uchiha!"

Unbeknownst to either speaker, Uchiha Shishui, the mirage ninja, had been listening in on their entire conversation. _Use those three for weapons, huh? Not if I can help it!_

**A/N: Well, I'm not dead, so I've finally managed to get this chapter written. Sorry if the swearing caught any of you off guard, I did rate this story 'T' for a good reason. Anyway, I've finally decided who's going to be on what team, but my major pairings are still in limbo at the moment. As always, constructive criticism welcome, flames shall be noted and used to light my nest (still got to cut costs somewhere!). This is your ever burning author, Shining Pheonix signing off.**

Minerva, the Roman name for the Greek goddess Athena. The Minerva band is a special type of armor only usable by female warriors. Athena happens to be both goddess of wisdom and of war, cool contradiction, huh?


	6. The Return of the Legendary Three

Chapter V: The Return of the Legendary Three

--Soldier Headquarters Library, Midgar—

Tseng pulled another book off of the shelf, flipped it open to the table of contents, and then sat it back on the shelf with a dejected sigh. _Not in this one either. Damn it old man, did you have to take all of your notes with you?_

On a rather large courtesy desk, of a similar design to the ones you can find in just about any library around the globe, sat a surprisingly small number of books with a relatively large number of notes. All of the books were written by the same man, Doctor Gainsbrough Gast, the man responsible for Midgar's revolutionary clean power system (**A/N: No, it isn't Mako this time around**), a good number of medical patents ranging from advanced prosthetics to a whole new class of cancer treatments, and, most importantly, the man responsible for the creation of SOLDIER, both as an organization and the people within it. However, nearly eleven years ago both the good Doctor and his wife, a young SOLDIER named Ifalna disappeared, taking both their child, a young girl named Aeris, and most of their research notes, including the biological/psychological files on several people whom the higher management of SOLDIER had 'volunteered' to let Dr. Gast experiment on. Among this group of young SOLDIERs was one Strife Cloud and one Lockheart Tiffa.

While Tseng was reminiscing, a man wearing a long white lab coat with thick half moon spectacles entered the library, striding directly to the black ops leader.

"Your secretary said that I might find you here." The man stated simply, as if that one sentence explained everything.

"What do you want, Hojo?" Tseng asked. Of all the men and women in SOLDIER, Tseng could count on one hand all of the people who had truly warranted his disrespect. Professor Hojo, the man who had been selected to replace Dr. Gast, topped the list.

"Not much, not much. I'm just curious what the head of the Turks wants with my predecessor's research notes." The scientist stated, giving Tseng a look that could send shivers down the spine of even the most hardened warrior shinobi.

"I'm not in the mood for any of your games today, Hojo. What I want the files for is my business, all you have to do is give me the files I want if you have them, or tell me if you don't and get out of my way." Tseng replied, pulling another book off the shelf. If he felt Hojo's gaze, he gave no indication of it.

"If that's how you feel, Tseng, then I'm afraid I can't help you." The dark scientist stated as he turned to leave. Just as he was about to walk away a voice stopped him dead in his tracks. "Having some trouble, Tseng?"

Tseng turned toward the speaker and smirked. _Speaking of which…_ "No trouble at all, Sephiroth. Hojo was just going to get some of Dr. Gast's old research notes for me."

The head of SOLDIER just nodded, exchanging a knowing smirk with Tseng before setting his gaze on the spectacle-wearing scientist. "Is that so…"

Hojo was sweating buckets. _No one_ said 'no' to the head of SOLDIER, not even it's chief scientist. At least, not its current chief scientist. "O-of course, Sephiroth-sama! I w-was just heading down to the R&D library to get them!" the dark scientist said, trying hard not to send a hate filled glare at Tseng with Sephiroth present.

Immediately after Hojo left the room, two of the most powerful men in all of SOLDIER were all but rolling on the floor laughing at the other man's plight.

--Turtle Paradise, Wutai—

"Just so you know," the bartender said as he leaned closer to Jiraiya, who was just pulling up a stool. "A woman matching the description you gave me is in the back booth. She had a kid with her, looked like some kind of an apprentice."

Jiraiya took a quick look back toward the booth indicated, going over a quick mental checklist. _Diamond seal on forehead, check. Mid-length blond hair, check. High cheek bones, check. Flat chest, not any more. Okay, it's definitely her._ Jiraiya stood up, placing several folded bills on the counter. "Thanks for the tip." He said, as he turned toward the back booth.

The woman in question looked up at the bar, not missing the exchange, or who was doing the exchanging. _So the past keeps coming back to haunt me, isn't it? _The woman's musings were cut short as Jiraiya stepped up toward the booth. "Mind if I sit here?" Jiraiya asked, indicating the empty seat opposite the more-than well-endowed woman.

"Sit down, Jiraiya, I know you will anyway." The woman said, pouring two shots of sake.

The young girl sitting next to the woman looked completely confused. She knew the name Jiraiya from her studies, but she still had to ask. "Tsunade-sama, is this _the_ Jiraiya, one of your old teammates?"

Tsunade sighed, taking a sip of the alchohol. "Yes, this is Jiraiya. Jiraiya, allow me to introduce you to my apprentice, Shizune. She's Dan's niece, and she's also one of the most talented pupils I've ever had."

Jiraiya nodded, accepting the shot glass as he smiled at the young girl. "I suppose it's time I got down to business and ask you what brings you to Wutai?" Jiraiya said as he raised his glass to Tsunade before downing the contents.

"Not much, other than stopping to get a drink and a few supplies, why do you ask?" the medic-nin asked in return, pulling out a deck of cards.

Jiraiya sighed, mentally steeling himself for what he had to say next. "I have a pair of propositions for you, Tsu-chan." The perverted Sannin couldn't resist the temptation to use his old pet name for the woman. "Sensei is getting tired, if nothing else he _needs_ a new successor."

This got Tsunade's attention. "What does he need a new successor so soon for, he's not that old?"

"He's old enough to be expecting his second grandchild, and he can't both teach at the academy and run the village at the same time. Before I left for here, both he and the council requested that if I found you I was to extend the offer to you."

"No disrespect to either sensei or the council intended, but I'll have to decline. I'm not cut out to be Hokage." Tsunade responded, putting the cards away and throwing back another shot.

"Well, then, it looks like I don't have to bother with my second proposition then." Jiraiya said as he stood up.

"Just humor me one more time and tell me what it was anyway." Tsunade replied.

Jiraiya sighed. _No turning back now, but this is not going to end well._ "I was going to suggest that you could go and see our grandson, but since you don't want to…"

"He's alive?!" Tsunade demanded, standing up so suddenly that she would have knocked over the table if it hadn't been bolted to the floor, staring Jiraiya straight in the eyes. "Tell me this isn't one of your cruel jokes, our grandson is alive?"

Jiraiya's smile slowly began to return. _Maybe there's hope for her yet._ "He's more than alive, Tsunade, he's in this town right now, probably just getting ready to head back to Konoha."

"How did it happen, Jiraiya. They told me he was dead. If I had known…"

"Now, before you get everything in a bunch, there's some things you should know. First off, Arashi died using the Shiki Fujin to beat Kyuubi, he wound up having to use his own child, our grandson, for the sealing, which is probably why the medic on duty told you that he was dead. Also, as you know, Keisha died giving birth, so the Uchiha's had no idea he was alive either until just recently."

"Take me to him, Jiraiya." Tsunade stated, the anger in her eyes at what she just _knew_ had to be happening in the village shining brightly, causing even Jiraiya to nearly take a step back. "I may even take your first proposition, but no way in all nine circles of Dante's Hell am I going to fail my grandchild the way I failed our son."

Jiraiya had to fight himself not to take a step away from the furious grandmother, noting somewhere in the back of his mind the saying 'Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned', and as far as Tsunade was concerned, someone had just scorned her very, _very_ deeply. May the lord have mercy on that poor soul.

--Kisaragi Family dormitories, Wutai—

Naruto pulled the final zipper closed on his backpack, hearing similar sounds coming from the bed behind him as Yuay finished packing as well. Both Silva and Gamakichi stalked around the room, looking for any loose article that might have been missed in the packing frenzy.

If either boy was totally honest with themselves, they would have admitted that they were slightly apprehensive about returning to Konoha. Sure, they would have their routine back, but that hardly made up for the dark stares and barely veiled insults from most of the adults. What he couldn't figure out is what the adults hated both him and Yuay for. Try as he might, he couldn't needle anything about it out of Jiraiya.

Naruto's musings were cut short as Yuffie entered the room, her own backpack slung over her shoulder. "You guys ready to go?" she asked.

In response, Yuay swung his backpack on as Silva swooped over and landed on the bag's top handle and Naruto pulled on his own bag as Gamakichi hopped on top of Naruto's head, assuming a commanding perch.

Yuffie gave a small chuckle at the sight. "I'll take that as a yes." She said as she ushered the two children out the door and toward the compound's entrance.

At the entrance, Jiraiya, as well as Tsunade and Shizune were waiting.

"Are you absolutely sure that you want to go through with this plan of yours?" the perverted Sannin asked, giving Tsunade a questioning look.

"As sure as I can be. After all, it would be a bit of a shock to just dump the fact that we're all related on him right here and now all at once, it will be easier to do in Konoha." Tsunade sighed, not wanting to voice her real fear. _What will I do if something happens to him? It seems that almost all of the men I get close to…_

Tsunade's musings were cut short as she felt a hand on her shoulder. For once in his life, Jiraiya did nothing perverted of his own free will, merely giving comfort to the woman whom he considered his wife. Tsunade perked up a bit, playfully brushing Jiraiya's hand away. "Now, now, Jiraiya. Save the mushy stuff for when we get back home." She said, though her eyes told a very different story.

The interplay between the two Sannin was cut short as Yuffie, Naruto and Yuay in tow, walked out of the dormitories. "Well, Tsunade-sama, what a surprise! I didn't know that you were in Wutai."

Tsunade looked at Yuffie for a second, as if trying to place her in her memory. After a moment, her eyes lit up. "Yuffie-chan?! My, you've grown from the little Genin I used to know."

Yuffie gave a small chuckle, shaking her head at the memory as well. "So I have, but now I've got a pair of future genin to take care of myself."

Jiraiya, sensing that if he didn't stop this conversation now they would never get going, took this moment to step in. "Well, we've got a long trip ahead of us, let's get going."

Tsunade and Yuffie nodded, shouldering their bags and walked toward the gate.

--A laboratory beneath SOLDIER HQ, Midgar—

_That little, who does he think he is, trying to manipulate _me! This and similar thoughts were going through Hojo's head as he walked into one of his many labs, slamming the door behind him.

"Now, Hojo, this is attitude is unbecoming of you."

Hojo whirled around, trying to find the source of the voice. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"Now, Hojo, you don't even recognize the voice of your own partner?" a man with snakelike eyes appeared from behind a freestanding chalkboard, a sickening smirk on his face.

Hojo relaxed, it was only his on again/off again assistant and fellow scientist. He walked over to one of the lab benches, picking up a composition notebook, flipping it open to a specific formula. "What brings you back so soon, Orochimaru?"

The snake Sannin's smirk seemed to widen. "I have a problem that I think you can help with…"

**A/N: Gomen for taking forever to update. The good news, I am a graduate of Edgewood High School! The crazy news, my parents drug me on an almost surprise vacation to Florida as a graduation present, so I haven't been able to do much writing at all recently. More good news though, I will be updating more frequently now that I am back and out of high school for good.**

**Story-wise, things are going to start picking up really fast here in the next two chapters. Everybody who reviewed, you guys are awesome, keep them coming, flames shall be extinguished and added to my nest of ashes. This is your one and only Shining Pheonix signing off.**


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